Pong Teh Chicken

4.7 stars

Post a Comment

'Pong teh' chicken is a typical Peranakan dish which uses fermented bean paste as its core ingredient. It is braised together with potatoes over low heat in a combination of soy sauce and palm sugar gravy until tender.

Nutrition per Serving

Calories

743 kcal

Carbs

33 g

Fat

38 g

Protein

83 g

This pong teh chicken recipe was given to my mom by one of my aunts from Malacca. The braised chicken dish is one of the most significant Peranakan dishes. Although fermented bean paste is salty, the combination of shallots and palm sugar gives the gravy a slight hint of sweetness. As it slowly cooks over low heat, the meat and potatoes absorb the flavours from the gravy making it extremely delicious.

I don’t have Taucu

Taucu is fermented soy beans paste which are popular in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine. You can find this ingredient in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and even Thailand. If you are not in the region, it might be tougher to get taucu as the ingredient is not as popular as the Japanese version, miso. Therefore, you can substitute taucu with miso. While they are almost similar, miso has a smoother consistency and taucu has more intensed flavours than miso.

Pong teh pork or babi pong teh

In fact, the original dish uses pork and is known as ‘babi pong teh’, where ‘babi’ means pig in the Malay language. Substituting it with chicken, it simply becomes ’ayam pong teh’ as in the Malay language, ‘ayam’ means chicken.

Overnight pong teh chicken

I have to admit that this dish tastes even better overnight even though I do not encourage consuming such food. The potatoes taste so good after absorbing the fermented bean paste and palm sugar.

Aromatics and tofu puffs in pong teh chicken

Originally, pong teh is cooked without the extra herbs like cloves, star anise or dried bean curds. I personally love the herbs combination as it makes the dish exceptionally flavourful. As I have mentioned, the gravy of this dish is really delicious. So, when tofu puffs are added, they soaked up the gravy. You can imagine the gravy flooding your mouth as you sink your teeth into them!

How to serve pong teh chicken?

This dish is best served with white rice and sambal belacan or some freshly cut chillies in soy sauce.

Ingredients

Servings:

1

shallot(s)

5

garlic clove(s)

1⁄2 tbsp

oil

2 tbsp

fermented soybean paste (taucu)

1 tbsp

soy sauce

1 tbsp

dark soy sauce

250 g

chicken meat

300 ml

water

1

potatoes

10

tofu puffs

1

cinnamon stick(s)

2 tbsp

palm sugar (gula melaka)

1

star anise

Steps to Prepare

Step 1 of 3

1
shallot(s)

5
garlic clove(s)

1⁄2 tbsp
oil

Mince garlic and shallots. Then, heat pan with oil to saute garlic and shallots over medium heat until fragrant.

Step 2 of 3

2 tbsp
fermented soybean paste (taucu)

1 tbsp
soy sauce

1 tbsp
dark soy sauce

250 g
chicken meat

300 ml
water

Add fermented bean paste, soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Mix well and add chicken meat. Then, add enough water to cover the chicken meat. Cook over high heat until it boils.